Maputo, Aug. 1, 2025 (Lusa) - The governor of the Bank of Mozambique, Rogério Zandamela, says that the government will define a solution for the €1.53 billion in exchange rate fluctuations that the state has been in arrears since 2005.
“The question of whether [the state] will issue bonds to deal with this lies outside our remit, because the decision rests with others. So you have to ask the other party. If you ask me, I’m unsure. Because the decision on this rests with someone else, not me or us,” said the central bank governor, as journalists questioned him after the latest meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee (CPMO) held on Thursday in Maputo.
Lusa reported on 7 July 2024 that an audit of the Bank of Mozambique’s accounts for 2024 concluded that, since 2005, the state has let the institution manage its exchange rate fluctuations, totalling 115.4 billion meticais (€1.53 billion).
“Once again, the auditor pointed this out, and the matter is best addressed elsewhere,” replied the governor.
According to the position of the auditing firm Forvis Mazars, independent auditor of the central bank’s 2024 financial statements, the position should comply with the organic law of the Bank of Mozambique, which stipulates “that the Mozambican State must recognise the debit balances of exchange rate fluctuations”, and that the State “in turn must issue public debt securities in favour of the bank”.
“We have found that, since the 2005 financial year, the Mozambican State will assume its responsibilities in the accumulated amount of 115.366 million meticais, quantified regarding 31 December 2024,” reads the chapter on the “basis for qualified opinion” of the independent auditor, which is part of the central bank’s financial statements dated 30 June.
In addition, the same chapter adds that the central bank “omitted to record in its individual and consolidated financial statements the interest and income associated with this Mozambican government debt, amounting to 27,648,902 thousand meticais (€367 million),” as of 31 December.
The Bank of Mozambique recorded losses of 4.15 billion meticais (€54.9 million) in 2024 and sharply revised downwards the profits initially recorded in 2023, according to its financial statements.
The report, approved on 30 June, indicates that the net result for the 2024 financial year contrasts with profits of 886.2 million meticais (€11.7 million) in the previous year, which analysts revised downwards from the initial figure of almost 2.34 billion meticais (€30.9 million).
"In 2024, the bank identified an anomaly in its IT system regarding the accounting of exchange rate variations on the maturity of term deposits and overnight deposits relating to previous years up to 2023. In this context, the bank made the necessary adjustment, which resulted in the retrospective restatement of the 2023 financial year,” the document reads.
The Bank of Mozambique ended 2024 with total assets growing to 759.2 billion meticais (€10 billion), compared to total liabilities that rose to 754.1 billion meticais (€9.9 billion), resulting in equity of 5.07 billion meticais (€67.1 million).
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